CCU’s Wiggins nets league honors for having hot hand

Coastal Carolina guard Shivaughn Wiggins and Winthrop guard Keon Johnson have been named the Big South Conference Men’s Basketball Co-Player of the Week.

Wiggins averaged 24.0 points, 4.0 assists and 2.5 rebounds last week for the Chanticleers. Following a team-high 18 points against High Point on Thursday, he scored a career-high 30 points on 11-of-13 from the field in Saturday’s win over Gardner-Webb. Wiggins added five rebounds and four helpers in the victory, in which he scored 15 of the team’s 30 first-half points. He helped erase a halftime deficit with seven points during an 18-5 run that put the Chants ahead by 10. For the week, Wiggins was 16-of-23 from the field (69.6 percent), 7-of-10 from beyond the arc and 9-of-10 from the charity stripe.

The Charlotte, N.C., native is the third Chanticleer to earn the Big South Player of the Week honor this season, joining Badou Diagne (week ending Dec. 22) and Elijah Wilson (week ending Feb. 1). Wiggins is only the fifth Coastal student-athlete to earn league Player of the Week honors since the 2012-13 season.

Johnson averaged 21.0 points, 3.0 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals in leading Winthrop to consecutive wins. He scored 32 points, including a 15-foot buzzer-beater as time expired, to cap the Eagles’ 86-84 comeback victory Saturday at Radford. Johnson scored 16 in each half, and six times during the game he scored to give Winthrop the lead. He opened the week in similar fashion, as he hit a key second-half three-pointer and made free throws down the stretch in Winthrop’s 88-80 home win over Longwood. For the week, Johnson was 14-of-14 from the free throw line, including 10-of-10 against the Highlanders.